Platform Notification Service

Welcome to Our New API Docs! This is the new home for all things API (previously at Canvas LMS REST API Documentation).

Platform Notification Service

Platform Notification Service (PNS) enables server-to-server communication by allowing the Platform to send messages, known as Notices, to Tools outside the scope of an active user session. Tools can register a "webhook" or handler endpoint using PNS to receive specific types of Notices, facilitating seamless integration and automation.

See also endpoint-level documentation and Official (1EdTech) documentation.

Tool Configuration

Make sure the tool has the required https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/scope/noticehandlers scope.

Dynamic Registration

Dynamic Registration Scopes

Manual Registration

Manual Registration Scopes

Registering Notice Handlers

To register a Notice Handler (webhook), the tool has to call the platform notification service endpoint. The endpoint URL is advertised in every LTI launch in the https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/claim/platformnotificationservice claim:

...
 "https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/claim/platformnotificationservice": {
    "service_versions": [
      "1.0"
    ],
    "platform_notification_service_url": "http://canvas-web.inseng.test/api/lti/notice-handlers/106",
    "scope": [
      "https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/scope/noticehandlers"
    ],
    "notice_types_supported": [
      "LtiHelloWorldNotice",
      "LtiAssetProcessorSubmissionNotice",
      "LtiContextCopyNotice"
    ]
  },
...

Register the notice handler:

PUT http://canvas-web.inseng.test/api/lti/notice-handlers/106
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <LTI Advantage token>

{
"notice_type": "LtiContextCopyNotice",
"handler": "http://lti-13-test-tool.inseng.test/notice_handlers/106:8865aa05b4b79b64a91a86042e43af5ea8ae79eb"
}

Response:

{
    "notice_type": "LtiContextCopyNotice",
    "handler": "http://lti-13-test-tool.inseng.test/notice_handlers/106:8865aa05b4b79b64a91a86042e43af5ea8ae79eb"
}

Get registered notice handlers:

GET http://canvas-web.inseng.test/api/lti/notice-handlers/106
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <LTI Advantage token>

Response:

{
    "client_id": 10000000000068,
    "deployment_id": "106:8865aa05b4b79b64a91a86042e43af5ea8ae79eb",
    "notice_handlers": [
        {
            "notice_type": "LtiContextCopyNotice",
            "handler": "http://lti-13-test-tool.inseng.test/notice_handlers/106:8865aa05b4b79b64a91a86042e43af5ea8ae79eb"
        },
        {
            "notice_type": "LtiHelloWorldNotice",
            "handler": ""
        }
    ]
}

Notes:

• Use LTI Advantage token for authentication.

• You can have only one notice handler for a given notice type.

• You can remove the notice handler by setting "" as a handler.

• Notice handler endpoint must be public, without any authentication.

• Notice handler domain must match the domain of the tool.

• Canvas does not retry delivery of a notice if the notice handler is unavailable.

Receiving Notices

Canvas sends notices with POST to the registered handlers. The body contains an array of notices. Every notice is a signed JWT. Example body:

{
    "notices": [
        {
            "jwt": "eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsImtpZCI6IjIwMjUtMDItMDFUMDE6MTY6NDNaXzMwMTg2ODVkLTA1YjctNDNjYi1iODY1LTAyN2VlYzM1MjcxNCJ9.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.Qi3_cSpe_3emC1fFMhJwOMLsMcBxEDkU5R0KtD5GAs_o3fWCT9CJ1ouyt_sO0XOrYczSpA2Y7RLnfi6ey7HI7Gf28lbvONwsbh-I-PWDkxmlVhchnnHJeDn3Z5hJMe1KlJzbXMI2Ee1LaYQkXbEe0wWJGMbnVKYm_YOVRe0sD0g18iDgSXBlAFCTQxAxuzjNAkMQXtc3KroMAaoj8kEu4yDGvGot0mUs-CBcDCFAx2_AOMczBqQ5HXmgExv8qYBYl89Q1KyyqIPt0jbQqmkwZgLayOxuDJ6_Viqsy78Iywabxk__XZsNvbTB4IeSYReiwGs4MFMbWUgol_h4hRwg6A"
        }
    ]
}

LtiContextCopyNotice

LtiContextCopyNotice is sent to registered notice handlers when course content is imported to a new or existing course.

Example notice content:

{
  "https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/claim/version": "1.3.0",
  "https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/claim/notice": {
    "id": "7a70e604-5b2e-4013-b628-4806228999f1",
    "timestamp": "2025-03-19T11:24:25Z",
    "type": "LtiContextCopyNotice"
  },
  "aud": "10000000000068",
  "azp": "10000000000068",
  "https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/claim/deployment_id": "106:8865aa05b4b79b64a91a86042e43af5ea8ae79eb",
  "exp": 1742387069,
  "iat": 1742383469,
  "iss": "https://canvas.instructure.com",
  "nonce": "2d220edf-2f1c-4be4-b38e-ec80b1c6749d",
  "https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/claim/context": {
    "id": "4dde05e8ca1973bcca9bffc13e1548820eee93a3",
    "label": "zzz",
    "title": "zzz",
    "type": [
      "http://purl.imsglobal.org/vocab/lis/v2/course#CourseOffering"
    ]
  },
  "https://purl.imsglobal.org/spec/lti/claim/origin_contexts": [
    "5098686ffc86cae4e0784b533a18af229ff5074e"
  ]
}

Claims

context: metadata about the new LTI Context (Course)

origin_contexts: array with 1 element: LTI Context id of the source course

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This documentation is generated directly from the Canvas LMS source code, available on Github.